A Ransomware attack on your small business might not cause oil and gas shortages over a wide swath of the country, but rest assured cyber criminals want to exploit the files and data you have worked so hard to develop and maintain for their own profit.

In fact, reported Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on May 13, small businesses now account for 50 percent to 75 percent of Ransomware attacks.

Ransomware attacks increased 300 percent in the past year as Ransomware gangs extorted and blackmailed $350 million from businesses through encryption of their data and then stealing that data and threatening to expose it to the public.

The plague has become particularly acute in industries that rely on their data to operate and are considered to be “one-stop shopping” for most if not all of the data hackers need to commit a wide variety of crimes ranging from financial to medical fraud.

Think data-intensive companies like accountants, law firms, and healthcare practices. If you run a small business in those industries, you should:

• Layer multiple defenses on your network including anti-virus, firewalls, third-party threat hunters
• Provide Cyber Security Awareness Training to you and your employees
• Obtain cyber insurance to cover potential damages.

Understand that criminals don’t need to be computer geniuses or even know how to write a virus to commit their crimes. Dark Side, the group believed behind the Colonial Pipeline attack, sells Ransomware as a Service to make the job easier for other criminals. That makes for a lot of potential criminals and a lot of potential victims.

If you need help fortifying defenses or Cyber Security Awareness Training for you and your employees, call 302-537-4198 or email me personally at ericm@flexitechs.com.